We picked up an M-card at our local (north Seattle) Comcast office and installed it just fine. Just a call in to Comcast to pair it and we were good to go.

Wow, either you were lucky or the Aurora Comcast office has finally learned a few tricks. I tried the CableCard thing nine months ago. We had to pay a roll fee, a guy came out, fumbled on the phone and with the card for forty-five minutes, then had to leave on another call. Never did get HD schedule info. I returned the card -- and Comcast refused to refund the roll fee.

On the Comcast website there's a lineup page that shows what's included in each tier. Have you looked there?

Before I had the CCs I could tune the ClearQAM channels but the TiVo guide didn't know how to map the lineup to them.

Unfortunately, not all Comcast areas break down the channel lineup by tier. My area simply shows "all channels" and it isn't even up-to-date. If I go look at the TV schedule on Comcast, I can find the correct channels for my area, but the lineup for my area is still several months behind.

I just got installed from Comcast in Nashville and had a pretty good experience. I dropped AT&T DSL/phone and picked up Comcast digital starter/phone/internet. Everything works but when the installer was talking with the Comcast dispatcher, he was told that M-cards are problematic and my channels "WILL" drop after a few days. They said I should return the M-card when this happens and pick up 2 S-cards at the Comcast office.

I just got installed from Comcast in Nashville and had a pretty good experience. I dropped AT&T DSL/phone and picked up Comcast digital starter/phone/internet. Everything works but when the installer was talking with the Comcast dispatcher, he was told that M-cards are problematic and my channels "WILL" drop after a few days. They said I should return the M-card when this happens and pick up 2 S-cards at the Comcast office.

Have any of you heard of this problem?

Thanks,
JAB

edit: this is a tivo HD DVR

The dispatcher is another clueless person. If your channels drop out, the mostly like cause will be them not having configured the cards with correct billing codes on your account. Just call back and speak to someone with a clue if it should happen, or email ComcastCares (just search on the forum for all the contact info) and let the corporate office pass your problem down to a technician with a clue for you.

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Like I said in previous posts - the Tech talks to people the end user
can not access. The results are USUALLY always better

The problem that my grandmother was having getting her mcard installed and all channels tuning was solved Tuesday with the tech showing up stating "I dont konw anything about these Tivo Cards(!)" but calling in and speaking to someone for all of maybe two minutes.

I know what you say is true, just wish we did have access to these people who are needed to fix cablecard issues without numerous calls and multiple appts. Until using the "Email Rick" route, we were told by every phone CSR that "you're not supposed to get those channels."

Beware folks. Comcast and I have been wrangling for 3 months over their NEW cablecard rate fees. I was told they were going to charge me $2/month for the 2nd, 3rd, etc. cablecard. So I bought 3 TIVO-HD's. My bill is $14/month more ($7 per cablecard)-- the same as a basic digital cable box! That on top of Tivo fees. After 20 calls to different people, most of them saying I really had 3 cable boxes (which I don't), a guy from billing called and said their NEW rate structure for cablecards are $7/month regardless if I am using 2-way service (on demand, guides, etc.) or not, regardless if it's a full cable box or not.

This kills the economics of buying TIVO boxes-- you buy a TIVO, they charge $12/month, Comcast charges you $7/month-- it costs much more than renting a Comcast DVR now.

I hate Comcast. I'm stuck with a TIVO contract now that locks me into Comcast.

Beware folks. Comcast and I have been wrangling for 3 months over their NEW cablecard rate fees. I was told they were going to charge me $2/month for the 2nd, 3rd, etc. cablecard. So I bought 3 TIVO-HD's. My bill is $14/month more ($7 per cablecard)-- the same as a basic digital cable box! That on top of Tivo fees. After 20 calls to different people, most of them saying I really had 3 cable boxes (which I don't), a guy from billing called and said their NEW rate structure for cablecards are $7/month regardless if I am using 2-way service (on demand, guides, etc.) or not, regardless if it's a full cable box or not.

This kills the economics of buying TIVO boxes-- you buy a TIVO, they charge $12/month, Comcast charges you $7/month-- it costs much more than renting a Comcast DVR now.

I hate Comcast. I'm stuck with a TIVO contract now that locks me into Comcast.

I doubt it will help you with your problem but I would atleast file a complaint to the FCC. I don't know if any parameters were set with price regarding the FCC requiring Cable companies to provide cards, however, the whole purpose was to allow cosumers to own their own equipment and to allow companies like Tivo to be competitive.

I don't see how Comcast charging almost as much for the cards as they do for their box is fair at all.

I just finished up an article on this (watch electronichouse.com for it soon). What a lot of people don't get is this: Back in the old days, Cable company used to charge $10/mo for your box. then FCC said they can't charge a markup on equipment, so they charged $2 for box and $8 'service fee'. This is what you're tripping up on.

For your FIRST service, you should be charged all the programming costs, and small rentals for the cable-cards.

For your SECOND service - if you get a cable box, they'll charge you a few bucks for the box, and a $5 (or so) "service fee".

For your SECOND service - if you get cable cards, they charge you $7-8 for the first cable card - but that INCLUDES the "service fee" that would have been broken out if you did a box.

Now - if you were doing cable boxes, there wouldn't be a ~$5 fee for the 3rd box, etc (the $5 'whole house service" should cover all additional boxes") but since it's rolled into the cablecard fee, you are getting screwed a bit, and should complain. My understanding is that so few people take more than 2 outlets that they don't worry much about multi- pricing (in fact, COMCAST charges more per box for it's own TiVo box for the 2nd and subsequent boxes), if you explain it this way to a supervisor you might get a adjustment on the 3rd box.... Alternately, if CC wants to charge premium for 3rd and subsequent box, not much you can do

One thing my article concludes is that the monthy carrying charges for a Cable company DVR are priced to be able the same as the cost of cablecards + tivo service. You think this is a coincidence? 8-}

oh and if it helps, at least here in MA (where i'm a local cable committee chair) cable companies can pretty much charge what they want for anything. FCC long decided that in most places - multiple cable cos + satellite cos = competition and so if you don't like what you're being charged you can vote with your feet.

Problem is - as long as (like I suggested) overall costs (cable box vs cable card + Tivo) come out about the same, you don't have much of a complaint
/j

Right. I'm in MA too. Monthly costs are about the same, except I paid $400 for my high-end TivoHD, so when you amortize that, plus $19/month, Tivo costs MUCH more than Comcast DVR boxes. The math is against Tivo.

The sad thing is nobody within Comcast knew why I was being charged this-- it had to escalate over 3 months to someone in Finance who researched it. Everyone else said it was because they showed me with 3 Moto boxes (which I don't have) then they said it was because I was using "host services" meaning guide and on-demand (which Tivo boxes don't use and aren't enabled). Comcast is a customer service monstrosity...

Right. I'm in MA too. Monthly costs are about the same, except I paid $400 for my high-end TivoHD, so when you amortize that, plus $19/month, Tivo costs MUCH more than Comcast DVR boxes. The math is against Tivo.

The sad thing is nobody within Comcast knew why I was being charged this-- it had to escalate over 3 months to someone in Finance who researched it. Everyone else said it was because they showed me with 3 Moto boxes (which I don't have) then they said it was because I was using "host services" meaning guide and on-demand (which Tivo boxes don't use and aren't enabled). Comcast is a customer service monstrosity...

What does your actual bill show you as being charged for? If it's showing anything other than cable card charges, it might be a mistake by the billing department. Even Comcast's official site says the charge for cable cards is "minimal".

I talked to the guys at corporate (from an earlier reply, the executive office-- thanks for the info). We have talked about 6 times, he was helpful but clueless how cablecards worked. He kept saying "passive, one-way" digital service was $2 but two-way (with on-demand etc.) was more. He called me today and apologized, as of November, all of New England will be charged $7/month for extra cablecards. New policy. He said they were taking this new policy nationwide.

I got my HD TiVo back in september. I went to pickup my CableCARD from Comcast in Houston. I called the number they gave me with the card to have it paired. The person I spoke to said it would pair automatically and just wait 24 hours. Long long story... Finally a tech shows up who knows whats going on and he calls the right people and BAM! I get all my channels. The End.

No wait... Now Comcast sent me a letter saying they are upgrading their systems so I need a new CableCARD. So I go get this new card and the exact same story is happening again. I just got off the phone with TiVo support. I called the 866-986-8486 number in the FAQ. I gave TiVo support all the numbers for the CableCard and the phone number for Comcast. They called Comcast directly. After like 10 minutes TiVo support comes back and he says he managed to speak to somebody who seems to know what is happening. They sent the signals to the card and I have to wait until tomorrow. I keep my fingers crossed this will work. My understanding is this is not supposed to take Hours but rather minutes to work.

Questions:
Anybody in the Houston area who needed to replace their CC? Anybody in the Houston area have the phone number for a Comcast tech with a bad eye? He is tall skinny, Salt Pepper hair. This is the tech that fixed my card last time. I wish I could get in touch with him because he had the right connections.

Hey guys, wanted to run something by you. Good friend of mine is a Comcast Houston customer and she got a note saying they are updating their equipment and that if she doesn't swap out her CableCard with their new one, she will lose access to a bunch of HD channels and won't be able to view future HD channels after Jan 20. Anyone know the story with this?

And the directions for installing the new card (for a TV) is to insert the new card and then wait 3-5 minutes for the channels to be defined. Is this normal for a TV and TiVo just has the usual extra pita for paring and crap?

Yeah, I got the same letter from Comcast. I replaced the card with the new one they gave me and now a bunch of channels are missing. See my previous post for some more details. Is your friend having the same problem?

In times past, I would get a new channel or 2 before TiVo would provide the channel listings.

Over the past week, I have gotten 3 messages about lineup changes. All in all, 14 new channels! Problem is, Comcast does NOT have them available yet!

There are some people in the area (parts of Seattle, Kent, Puyallup) reporting they have the new Comcast channels, but not the Tivo guide for those new channels. Looks like you have the opposite! There are 29 new HD channels. We received a flier about them in December - said they were starting December 19, but when I called, I was told not until July. Not many of the channels are too interesting to me however - I mean, QVC in HD?

Wow, either you were lucky or the Aurora Comcast office has finally learned a few tricks. I tried the CableCard thing nine months ago. We had to pay a roll fee, a guy came out, fumbled on the phone and with the card for forty-five minutes, then had to leave on another call. Never did get HD schedule info. I returned the card -- and Comcast refused to refund the roll fee.

As they say, once burned, twice shy.

They must've learned a few tricks, then. I walked into the N Seattle office, asked for a cablecard, didn't even get a blink of an eye. Signed the receipt, went home, plugged the card in the Tivo, called the phone nmuber, and within about 5 minutes had all my channels. Scary easy.

Yeah, I got the same letter from Comcast. I replaced the card with the new one they gave me and now a bunch of channels are missing. See my previous post for some more details. Is your friend having the same problem?

Not yet, she just got the card today. She's calling me tonight to help her out.

Not yet, she just got the card today. She's calling me tonight to help her out.

If you want to get an idea of how difficult this is going to be there is a thread about Comcast Houston switching to SA Cards. BTW, my channels are not back. Even tho the TiVo tech talked to their tech. And they said it would be done this AM.